User blog:EtherBot/Let's Talk: Channel ZERO: No-End House!
So I watched the first episode of Channel Zero season 2, it's totally free on youtube and I'm almost a little bit confident that the rest of the episodes can be watched with ads on the syfy website as they come out. I wrote a semi lengthy blog post about the No-End House story here, and so I felt like I should say something about the show just to give myself some closure. I like it. I liked Channel Zero: Candle Cove and I like this too. Unless they manage to royally screw this up I don't think I'll step away feeling like I don't like this show, the first episode is just super super promising. I'm not really in the mood to write anything more structured about it since writing my latest showcase a few days ago sorta drained me of my "writing about spooks" energy, but I'll just go over some highlights. Watch the episode first the link is RIGHT HERE and I will be spoiling things without second thought. Not a lot of plot twists at this point but plenty of interesting scares and spooky turns of events within just this opening act of a story for me to suggest you go into not knowing what to expect. You have been warned. MISC THOUGHTS Wasn't a fan of the opening, I mean the very opening. The bit with whats-her-name-the-black-lady running towards the house and getting assaulted by that guy. Gave away a bit too much in advance. Level with me here show, I read the pasta, I know this house isn't just a spooky haunted house tour, but some people don't know that and you're robbing those people of the rollercoaster ride of denial and terror they might have gone on if you didn't introduce dream-like elements just yet. I totally dug that transition from the lighter to the spinklers as much as you probably did but that opening with the home movies would have worked twice as well without a spooky nightmare opener to precede it. I think she had "Its Not REAL" written on her arm implying she cut it into herself in order to get herself to focus on leaving the house. Based on where she is and the fact that she's trying to run towards the house I'm guessing this happens around half-way through the second episode, unless the second episode catches us up on wut was going on with JT or DJ or wutever his name was. Was the black lady named Tracy? I think it might be Tracy. I watch movies in a really strange way in that I keep tabs on the characters and actions but usually have trouble actually remembering their names unless it was said very often or was an unusual name of some kind. Anyway, that bit where Tracy told JT about her sexual awakening was kind of the worst thing a person can do considering he tried to kiss you earlier and you rejected him. Also I'm placing my cards on the table right now, one of the spooky things that happens to JT will be that he'll encounter a fake Tracy who makes the moves on him. Maybe she'll be a succubi idk, spitballing here but if these elements of unrequited crush-ness and that bizzare reference to a sexy demon girl don't both come into play later I'm gonna chalk that up to bad writing. Nobody tells their friend about a weird vague personal moment in class where you get aroused at the idea of a succubi for the first time no matter how close you were as kids. There's not a casual fun conversation concievable that leads to that being an acceptable aside in the middle of your conversation. That guy with the backpack is either an agent of the house or somebody who went into the house in like the first few rooms but left before the split up point and his girlfriend went in or something and never left and he hunted down the house since. Like I said, laying my cards down. I consider myself pretty good at spotting plot twists but the last season threw me for quite a few loops so I'm not sure about any of my predictions here. I'm getting ahead of myself. Margot is the main character of at least the first episode and she does a good enough job of shouldering the weight, I like her enough. Certainly has the most baggage that we get to see. Not really interesting to talk about her as a character though I'm honestly much more interested in Tracy and JT cuz they were explained less so obviously i crave to know more. Irony, sort of. First room comes and I like it alright, a lot of interesting stuff happens here. Like the "how could they have done this?" element mixed with the "I guess it's POSSIBLE" element. That old timey swing kinda jaunt in the background was very nice too and I loved to spooky distorted version as well. Everyone's bust breaks except for JT's, which is interesting. Everybody except for JT eventually left through one of the exits but seeing as JT wasn't outside in the end of the first episode and how he seemed the least phased by the spooks of each room so far I'm gonna assume that meant he was the only member of the party to try and stick around until Room 6 so he can "never be heard from again" or whatever. He'll probably become the damsel who they venture back to the house/take a detour in the house to find depending on wut direction the show decides to go in. If my 2nd prediction about that guy with the backpack was right then I think that means he's gonna help out the main two girls in rescuing JT and that girlfriend/sister/something he lost to the house. Also if everything I just said earlier was right than I'm also placing my bets on there being some vague distortion of JT who tries to communicate with them. Something like his face pushing through the wooden panel walls, or he and her/her/something are mummified in spiderwebs or anything along those lines. Anyway, getting off track again. ROOM 2 was nice as well, wasn't at all spooked by the guy with the gorilla mask on but I can appreciate the horror of the blood trail pointing at the lady and of him whispering Margot the lil nickname and what not. Spooky, just didnt spooky me. Again, JT is most interesting to me here. I find it weird how he was so like HOLY WOW YOU GUYS, *scoff laugh* I mean, *quick chuckle* *hands in hair* this stuff is amazing!! Tactial...this is art! or something. That's not an actual transcript just the vibe of wut he said and my vague recollection. Great actors all around, by the way. I thought the few times the writing failed me the actors carried it through so good work buddies. ROOM 3 was the hallway and that was pretty lame to me. Was digging it at first but if I were the showrunners I'd have had that shot of her back up against the wall squeezing between the mirror lead to the perspective shot of nobody behind the mirror at all. You can't choose what my most horrific nightmare man looks like TO ME...and the guy you cast simply did not scare me at all. Too over the top, and the big goofy man being all tactial and weird undermines the better horror of the dad in room 5 later on. If ya wanted the more punchy kind of scare have her gawk in disbelief at the empty space behind the mirror and then have it SHATTER or something. Maybe scary hands grab through the glass shards, like THROUGH the glass shards, Alice Through the Looking Glass style, and chase her down the hall. CGI heavy effect but you did a great job with the practical effects and sets and makeup so far so surely you can spend some of you CG budget on something more meaningfull than whatever little touches you did spend it on. BTW reaally great effects, loving the sets in this. Great pacing by the way, too. ROOM 4 didn't do anything for me so I'm moving on. ROOM 5 was great, not much to comment on here either I just liked it it was spooky. I was spooked. I liked the dad, I liked how he didn't seem harmful just inherently awful in his own existence for a reason he can't understand. Just wanted to hug his daughter but for her, there's nothing more "confronting the death of my father"-y than being hugged by a gross dead ash covered version of him. After that she leaves because she gives up and goes with Tracy. Car doesnt start, obviously. They go home together walking and Tracy says she's got to go back and get her car. Margot is still in the house which she realizes via her dad whistling and cooking in the kitchen which is absolutely great. Nothing twisted here, just her dad. Lovely. Gonna have a great time sleeping on that. I thought the whistling was her whistling her dads song from the video at the start to help her calm down and was VERY pleased to see her walk right back down the staircase and stair horrified off screen I was like "ooooh shoooott" Also like to point out the painting of a white rose on the staircase during that shot. Very appropriate, no? I like how her building a backbone and going for fun night out with a guy to a spooky house and friends are there and all that is the first step in her character arch but also the thing that gets her roped into this mess. Like if she didn't bump into that dreamboat guy nothing would've happened she'd have walked out of that bar and gone home. MAYBE Tracy and JT would have gone to the house but i doubt it. Probably JT tho he seemed excited about it. Oh I never mentioned the dreamboat guy, did I?? There's this guy he's a dreamboat person who Margot bumps into at a bar and they go to the house together as a date and he doesnt leave either i just forgot he existed. Calling it now he bumps into JT and they go through at least one spooky room together inside the house. Category:Blog posts